Need Advice to Help My 4 Month Old with Sleep

Same story here. My son is been sleeping through the night for about two months now, he will be 10 mos the 20th. You know what he wants, good luck.

I just went for my son's 4 month yesterday and had the same concern since he goes to sleep @ 8:00 and wakes at around 2:00 every night to feed. Although he doesn't have a full feeding, he still wakes up. My ped. told me to let him continue till around 6 months and then she would give me some strategies at that appt. He is 16 pounds - yep.. big on length and weight. I am just starting his cereal this week.

have you try giving him a bottle of water when he wakes up at night. My mom says she did that with my, and my brother and sister. She said we woke up 4 days at night and had water instead of milk, after that, we slept all night. Maybe this works for you. Good luck!

The one thing i wanted to say is about him screaming till hes red in the face. I wouldn't do that. But i would not go and get him as soon as i hear him. Depending on if thats his first reaction or if he stirs and works himself up. if its his first reaction sheesh thats a hard one, i would go in straighten him out ( assuming like mine he gets himself into a corner) give him something comforting ( ours is a blanket or a frog) and i would tell mine no in a hard voice and leave the room. I also have a aquarium music thing i press every time i want him to sleep. works well for me but I understand that this might work or it might not work at all.
If he is working himself up i would let him, you know the point where there is just no reason for him to cry that hard and then get him out and do the same straighten him out give him something comforting and tell him no. i would repeat this 3-4 times and if hes still having a fit I would change his diaper do something out of ordinary like give him a bath or take him outside (yes even at 2 am with your pjs and hair in curlers) something that will calm him down and then go back into the room put him down and walk away. i had a hard time with my first one and this is what i would do. Theoretically he should get so tired of having to work himself up so many times to get something that he would act as if it weren't worth it.
remember have a cool head. If your going to scream i suggest calling someone that late and just blowing off that steam. My husband was gone to Iraq when my baby turned 3 months old and i remember going through this alone. i asked permission to call someone really late to have their phone handy so i could tell someone and get some assuredness. and sure thing it turns that alone feeling around. And pray pray pray. You can get through this and have some wonderful advice for someone else later. if you don't have anyone, message me and we will talk about it. I hope you have someone to encourage you.
good luck God bless
~lizzie

I agree with feeding cereal before bed. I had someone give me that advice (and a special "feeder bottle"), it was a lifesaver. Both of my children, now 20 & 16 and very healthy, were sleeping through the night at around 2 months old. Books and doctors are great but always remember that no one knows your baby like you. Babies are unique and precious!
God bless!

D. -

Does your doctor live with you and know your baby like you do?
It sounds to me like you have a wonderful little guy and he is just fine. Yes, you are still waking with him but all the latest research shows that it is not good for babies to "cry-it-out" and you can read about this on the following website - www.askDrSears.com - which is an excellent resource; He has 30 years experience and tons of parents get his newsletter and all the great info on babies on his website - it's truly a mom's lifesaver!

Your little Michael needs his nurishment or he would not wake - you clearly stated that he sucks down the bottle and that means he is hungry - he has a need and he is telling you his need. Sleeping through the night will come sooner than you think. Make sure you take care of your son as he is asking you; better to listen to his needs than make him uncomfortable and upset - learning that he cannot trust you to listen to him. Trust-building is exactly what you are doing with him right now. If he builds great trust in you now, you cannot put any price on that - certainly not another month or two of sleep!

Alli

I feel like doctors go by the book sometimes. We live in the real world of what is happening to us and our children. My son ate all the time. I was exhausted but I never would have let him scream, turn red in the face or ignored him. If he was hungry, i let him eat. I rocked him to sleep every night and do so with my other one now. My son is now almost 3 and is fine. You are the mom....do the best you know to do and remember...you are the one in the storm right now....whatever works for you...do it!! God gives us the wisdom as moms to do what we need to do and to ask when we don't know what to do. Give it to Him and He will guide you through this hard time. Your baby will be fine....

i have to tell myself that doctors mean well, but wow i have heard so much "advice" from docs i respected saying "a kid needs this at 4 months, and does not need that..." YOU are momma bear, and you know your son. 4 month olds are not programmable robots, they are babies who are growing and changing every moment. keep it up, what you are doing, eventually he will sleep through the night, but not right now. great for you all that he takes his bottle quickly and then settles down to sleep again. you are doing great!

Hey D.,
I can certainly understand your frustration, but don't give up, sometimes it just takes some infants more time than others to establish a solid nighttime sleep pattern. I was very fortunate with my 3 children, now 11, 18 and 21 years, they were all sleeping through the night by 6-7 weeks. You may want to try feeding your son later at night and in turn he may only get up once rather than 2-3 times. Also you might try using a pacifier, I know that's one more thing to wean them of, but it might keep him content longer through the night. It may not be hunger as much as the need for the sucking motion. I would give mine their cereal or whatever around 7:30 or so and then a bottle around 10 -11 pm. Their bath would be right before their bedtime bottle. I don't know how long he's napping during the day, but you may also try shorter naps towards the end of the day and maybe he'll tire himself out and begin sleeping through the night. You can always change it up a little later after they have established a solid nighttime sleep pattern and sometimes no matter what we try, they still are going to stick to their own schedule. I hope this has helped you. I know every child is different and you have to find what works best for you. Good Luck!! It will get better!! K. W.

Your son is waking up at 2:30 am because he's trained to do so. Babies are perfectly capable of sleeping all night starting at 8-12 weeks but it won't happen if you don't train them to do it. In fact, if you keep giving him a bottle in the middle of the night he is likely to stay on that schedule for another year or two. I agree with your doctor that you shouldn't feed him or pick him up. I wouldn't let him scream endlessly either because he doesn't know where you are or if you're coming back. Our doc suggested letting the baby cry 15 minutes and then going to soothe her by patting her on the back a few times to let her know mommy is still there. I suggest you read Babywise, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, or The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. Those worked to get my daughter sleeping all night at 10 weeks. They have also worked for at least 8 of my friends who used any combination of the books. She was completely breastfed and never had ANY cereal until 6 months old so your son is definately able to sleep all night now you just get to teach him how!
Good luck!

Tough time when they are growing and eating! We ended up putting some rice cereal into our daughter's bottle as well as giving her the cereal before bedtime. We also would let her cry say 2 min the first night before going over to her, then the next night we would stretch it to 3, and so on. It seemed to really help her; if he's hungry he's hungry. If you can keep him awake a little longer before bedtime that can affect the wake-up time too.

good luck! It does get better.

I highly recommend this book: Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child by Dr Weissbluth here is a the link to find this book on half.com for only a few bucks! I paid full price and let me tell you it is well worth it! Both my girls 3yr old, and 1 yr old, sleep through the night and take great naps. Excellent resource on sleep. Discusses at length your exact situation. Good luck!

http://product.half.ebay.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-C...

At this point, it is just out of habit that your son is waking up in the middle of the night. My son is 6 months and is just now starting to sleep all night. But I let him cry himslef to sleep for naps and bed time. that is the only thing that has worked so far. Also, if he cries himself to sleep, and still wakes up to eat, then you can try just putting a pacifier in his mouth and patting him back to sleep. But I agree with your Dr. Do not pick him up. that will only lead him to think you are going to feed him and make the process longer.
Good luck. Just let him cry and step outside or something so you dont hear it too much ;)

Hi D., If you haven't read the book Babywise you should pick up a copy. I love it and all my friends who've read it love it also. Rest assured that letting your baby cry himself back to sleep won't last forever. Sleep is exremely important for our little ones and as parents we have to help them learn sleep cycles. Getting up in the middle of the night to eat is disruptive to him and your family. It sounds like he's getting plenty to eat during the day so he should start sleeping through pretty quickly. Hang in there.

Well, if my doctor told me not to pick my child up or rock him (comfort him) I would get a new doctor. That is terrible advice you have been given.

Look at it this way, do not do anything to your son that you wouldn't do to your grandmother if she was in your care. If your grandmother needed something and called out to you would you ignore her? I hope not!

Babies cry because they need something. 4 months is too young for them to be 'manipulating' you. The only way for you to establish a trusting relationship with your baby is if you are consistently there to meet his needs. That means at all times of the day. Cherish this time and feed your baby when he's hungry.

First off, the doctor only sees you son a few mins every couple of months, you know what your son needs and wants. I also have a 4 month old and I think if you start feeding him more he will eat less frequent. Trust me, I know that is easier said than done, my son is a snacker, but I am also giving him stage 1 fruit and he is doing great with that. My son is sleeping though the night and before his bath around 7 or so I feed him a jar of fruit and then after his bath when he gets really hungry around 8:30 or I give a 8oz bottle of cereal. He eats all of and he sleeps from about 9 or so til about 6. When he wakes up, he is really happy and stays awake for awhile. Hope this might help. Just remember to trust your own instincts. No one knows your own child better than you.

I had to go through this same scenario with my daughter(baby #2). My son slept through the night very easily. First, be sure you are not using food as a way to get your baby to sleep at any time. He needs to learn to go to sleep by laying down in his crib with out rocking or patting. Next can you start the doctor's recommendations when your husband will be home? Our doctor had my husband go in to the baby's room, cover her, and let her know someone was there, but she was not going to be fed. It only took three nights of screaming and she slept through the night. Your baby does not need to eat at night anymore. It sounds like it is no big deal, but you really do need your sleep and you do not want to develop a mind set in your child that food is needed for comfort and security. It is easier to deal with this now than waiting. The crying will be the hardest on you, but your baby will not starve, and soon everyone will be sleeping through the night. I hope you will have the strength to try it, because your doctor has your son's best interests in mind. K.

I'm sure your doc means well, but the impression she gives is that there's only one way to do things. Some parents have discovered that they need to ignore those hunger signals from their babies when they wake up in the middle of the night, because the baby is only doing what he knows will get him some extended time in mom's or dad's arms--and he's using the bottle to comfort himself to sleep rather than learning to self-soothe. However, I personally think 4 months old is way too early for this stance. Yeah, a full night's sleep is one of the best things a new parent can have, but I feel a trend has developed to try to train a baby to sleep through the night way too early.

I never refused to feed either of my children when they woke up in the middle of the night--but I also didn't expect them to be sleeping through the night at 4 months either. My son was breastfed, so I think he was 6 months old before he started sleeping through the night. My daughter is formula fed, and she started sleeping through the night a little before she turned 5 months old. Even now (about 5 1/2 months), there are some nights she wakes up. We feed a regular bottle and put her back to bed. And we've found that feeding her hasn't encouraged her to wake more often.

There are 2 things I can think of that you might try. My brother and sister-in-law started my niece on cereal right at 4 months. They also gave her cereal right before she went to bed, and they found that instead of helping her sleep through the night like they hoped, she was actually waking up MORE often. Once they moved the cereal to earlier in the evening, she did much better. And it's possible that missing that last bottle because he falls asleep right after cereal is what's causing him to be hungry in the middle of the night.

Another thing you can try is to start to reduce the amount of formula you give him for middle of the night feedings, rather than just cutting him off cold turkey. If you find that he goes back to sleep just fine and sleeps for just as long as he does when you give him a full feeding, the doc might be right that he's only using that bottle to get himself back to sleep. If that's the case, I think gently weaning him is better answer for everyone. Hope that helps!

My daughter was like your son. It was hard for her to sleep through the night she was a always hungry infant and would wake up every two hours. Many mothers would tell me to let her cry without food but I couldn't do that to her so I just adapted to her schedule which was hell because I worked 40 hours a week plus if they called me in too. I was a zombie but my daughter was healthy. She was not over weight at all. What was wrong with her is she had a high metabolism. I took her to doctors over and over just to get her to stop being hungry, she would eat fast too. Doctor couldn't do anything. Eventually as she got to 6 to 8 months she started slowing it down and sleeping alittle longer. It is really up to you. This was my first child too. I forgot to metion that sometime the formula might not fit for the child. May want to check into that too. My daughter couldn't have the regular one because she ate it to fast it would cause her to have colic so I had to change it. Good luck.

I agree that YOU know your baby. Babies are not "textbook" cases. Sometimes they are just growing and hungry. Sometimes they need the comfort. You know your baby. If you feel like he/she is hungry then feed! Also, i transitioned to water too....my baby loved it though. So, some nights he drank water in the mid of the night. You have some great responses here. If it makes a difference...i couldnt ever do the cry it out method. I feel that babies that young are crying because they need something...even if its just comfort.

Me: 17mth old and 5mth old boys.

D.,

My daughter's physician gave me that same advice. I found that if I fed her before her bath she would fall asleep alot quicker and stay asleep longer. It seemed that because of our schedule she knew that the bath then bottle meant bedtime and because I would rock her and put her back to sleep when she awoke it changed her internal clock.

Doctors don't know it all and you have to follow your instincts. But, I agree with your doctor. Try giving a bottle of water at that time only and stick with it. If you do the cry it out method, it will take 3 nights. I had a hard time, but my husband was there to insure I did it and did not give in. It worked, but it was hard. I didn't do it with my other one exactly the same. I just didn't go in right away. I waited and let them cry for awhile. When the cry changed to a certain cry, I would go in. When the cry was just the I Want My Way cry, I stayed out. It worked with him, but took a lot longer. My 3rd, I went in every time. He is now 2 and 1/2 and CANNOT get back to sleep easily if he wakes up during the night. He will cry and cry a wimpy cry for HOURS until I go in. It's horrible for me and him. YOU need your sleep. YOU need your sleep! HE also needs his. He also needs to be able to calm himself down and the only way he will is if he is forced to learn somehow. He does not need that one feeding. If you are up late, you might consider waking him up right before you go to bed and giving him a bottle to make sure he's full and you can sleep through that midnight hour. I did that and it worked for me. It will also make you feel better letting him cry because you know he's not hungry, just forming a bad habit. Nothing will work if you're not comfortable with the solution nor consistent. Good Luck!

I am a first time mom as well. My daughter is currently 14 months old. She still doesn't sleep through the night (teething, growing spurts, nightmares). Everyone keeps saying she should be. Sure it would be great but for whatever reason she needs me at night. And I am not comfortable letting her cry herself into hysterics. We tried going in to just pat her back, etc. etc. It didn't work for us. Sure it might work for you. I was so angry with myself that I left myself be pressured into doing something I was uncomfortable with and that I knew was wrong for OUR family.

That being said, no mater who gives you advice you only do what you are comfortable with. Every baby is different and a pediatricians blanket advice just doesn't apply to everyone.

So perhaps try a bigger bottle of formula (because even with rice cereal they still need a certain amount of formula a day)or cereal made with formula. If not then decide what works with your family and what you are comfortable with.

Good luck.

I know it's really hard, but you have to set a schedule. Can you imagine doing this 5 or 6 months from now? We did with my first and by his 1 year birthday we were exhausted!! My advice is, yes you have to let him cry it out a little. BUT... what worked for me was put him to bed with a little extra cereal in his formula. Then when he starts crying, give him about 30 minutes to cry it out. If it bothers you too much, then go in and give him a bottle, but absolutely NO talking, cooing or anything. Then the next night let it stretch to 45 minutes of crying each time he wakes up. This makes it easier on the parent. With my second, I just let her cry and it only took about a week before she was sleeping through. It seems cruel, I know, but wait til they are 10 and crying because you said no they couldn't stay up til 11pm!!!
Good luck!

I had the same problem with my oldest daughter. A pacifier worked for her. I would give her the pacifier and rock her. She was usually back asleep in minutes. The Dr. told me that it was the comfort of nursing that she needed. Soon, I could walk into her room and give her the pacifier without the rocking. Hope this helps!

Hello!
I have 4 month old daughter and 4years old son.

I would suggest to you, to listen to your heart. Doctors are just human with their own thinking. I would feed child as much as he wants. My boy was the same, he was waking up each 1.5 hour each night. But later it went away.... So that he is waking up is natural.
Maybe you just need to give more food your child before sleep.
And finally! You are the mother, so everything will depend on you!

Hey there! I have 4 kids and really struggled with my oldest when she was a baby -- she was exactly how you describe your 4 month old. I thought I was going to go nuts trying to figure it out.

One book saved my life --- Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg. LIFE SAVER!!!!! All 3 of my other children were AWESOME babies and I constantly referred to her book with all of them. They all slept through the night at 3-4 months -- from about 10-11 pm thru 6-7 am. And now my youngest is 9 months old and sleeps from 8 pm - 7 am and never wakes up at night -- every once in a while he will if he's teething, but I give him something for the pain (I use tea tree oil) and he goes right back to sleep.

I know it's hard because you feel like he is truly hungry when he's waking up. I would recommend increasing the amount in his bottles during the day. If you increase what he's getting during the day, he won't wake up because he's hungry. Now, he may wake up out of habit anyways. That is going to be hard to break. But, you have to be diligent. I would still go in and pick him up, reassure him that you are there, talk to him and help him calm down and then lay him back down before he falls asleep.

One thing to be careful of is to not let him fall asleep while he's eating or being held. They need to get into the habit of falling asleep on their own - in their bed. I made this mistake with my oldest and paid for it for YEARS. It takes some discipline on your part, but believe me it is WORTH IT in the long run.

Go get the book... It should help tremendously!! :)

~ Ann

The books I see everyone recommending are excellent - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is a favorite of mine as well as The Baby Whisperer. I've heard great things about Baby Wise. I think all three essentially promote getting the babies on a good routine and a healthy mix of crying and helping them to learn how to put themselves back to sleep. We are going through the debate about the 2am feeding ourselves with our 3 month olds. I think we may start diluting their formula at that feeding, or cutting back on what we offer soon. Like your son, they suck it down pretty quickly most nights so I'm a bit hesitant to let them cry yet.

Good Luck!

I highly recommend a book called "On Becoming Babywise" by Garry Ezzo. I am a first time mom and have used it with my daughter. She is 8 months old and has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 weeks old (8 hours) and now that she is older sleeps 11-12 hours a night. I can totally relate about your husband because my husband is a State Trooper and works nights 2 weeks at a time. :) Its hard being the only one at home all evening with a baby. The book basically focuses on putting your child on a schedule and getting him to sleep through the night and have a good nap schedule during the day. Your baby is most likely waking up out of habit and just thinks he is hungry. Try letting him go back to sleep on his own. Don't even go in the room unless he just gets very upset. But I really suggest the book, it is wonderful and I love it and worked for me.:)

K. (College Station, TX)

do what your heart tells you. the doc doesn't live in your home. she has another row to hoe as the saying goes. feed the boy. good luck mom of 6 grandmother of 15.

My husband is a police officer also. I fully understand your plight. I had two babies in less than two years. The second one did not sleep all night until he was 14 months old. I understand that what the doctor said is weighing on you. However, you are the mother. Use your instincts. Each child is different. If you think he needs to be fed, then do it. Good luck. Hang in there!

D.,
I went through the same thing when my son was about Michael's age. The first few nights are going to be the hardest because he is so used to you coming in and feeding him when he cries, but once you get him on a strict schedule of fedding times during the day, it will make the nights a lot better. Also, you may consider feeding him just a little more at night since he wakes up wanting to eat to help hold him over till the morning. The one down side is that he may start waking up and wanting to start his mornings earlier.
My son is 17 months and we still won't go in his room if he wakes up in the middle of the night because his cup is empty. He gets a little before bed and nothing else till morning. Hope everything works out for you. Good luck.

A.

Just an idea, but with my own children, what I have learned that doctors don't tell you is that when you don't feed them the bottle at 2-3 am, substitute it with a bottle of water, this still fills the babys tummy and pacifies the urge to suck on something,warm water usually puts them right back to sleep. And are you making his cereal with water or formula, this makes a little bit of difference too.

Give your Baby a bottle. In time your son will sleep through the night. Your Dr. sounds heartless. The rule of thumb is love your child.

D.,
I am active duty Navy and I have 2 kids, daughter 6 and son 18 months. Honey the best advice I can give you is to follow your instincts a lot with the baby. Both of my kids were different, and the doctors told me to do this and told me to do that, but he is YOUR baby and you know him best!! My daughter slept with me until she was 5, or just about, and my son was happier sleeping in his crib, though he would wake up at night. I couldn't let him cry and I gave in all the time to going and getting him to rock him and giving him a bottle. You know, they are only tiny like that for such a little time and the lack of sleep you are getting for the next year or how ever long you give in, is worth it in retrospect! Or it was for me. When you are ready, you will get a really good schedule down and he will start sleeping longer through the nite (my son didn't sleep for more than 4 hours at a time until he was 6 months or so and started sleeping all night when he was a year). There is nothing wrong with loving him and going to get him at night and giving him a bottle. When you need sleep, you will let him cry and he will be fine, and if you don't want to pick him up at night, then give him the bottle. You only go through this phase for a little while with your baby. He will grow up quicker than you want him to and you will regret not doing what you wanted to do. We never regret the things we do, but we do regret the things we didn't do, and you won't get this time back.

I know that doesn't help with suggestions for getting him to sleep longer at night, but he is ONLY 4 months old!! He is still such a tiny new guy to the world and yeah, he probably wants his momma. Just follow your instincts and trust yourself a little bit. The doctors are going to tell you they should be doing all kinds of stuff at different mile marks in their growing, but not all kids develop the same. If he is a happy, healthy baby, then don't worry about all that stuff too much. For instance the pros say he should be walking by this time and crawling at this time, but some babies wait until they are well over a year to walk and some will crawl at 6 months. You know your baby best and you need to trust yourself. Don't fret the small stuff. If you are ok with the loss of sleep, then go to your baby. He is only a baby once and I can tell you that there will be days you wish he could do things faster and there will be days you look back and wish he would slow down.

Best to you.

L.

If you know he's waking up and crying because he's hungry then feed him. And there is nothing wrong with picking him up and rocking him when he cries either. You are being a loving caring Mom who attends to your child's needs. I don't see how that could be wrong.
If my doctor told me not to feed my child and not to pick him up then I'd find another doctor...fast!
As for helping him sleep longer, have you thought about trying more cereal? You don't have to limit it to 4 oz. Someone on here said to try 8 oz. because he'll stop eating when he's had enough. She's right. And are you mixing it with water or formula? I mixed my son's with formula just the last feeding before bed and he slept 6-7 hours straight. And of course you can try just giving water (not cold, room temp or warm) during the night. The water didn't work with my son, but it did work with my niece...each baby is different.
Trust your instincts because they are usually right. Remember the saying "Mom knows best"...they don't say that just to annoy teenagers!

D.,
My daughter is 4 months as well. I can't say that she sleeps through the night all the time, but about 2 times a week she will make it until 5am. Sleeping throught the night is becoming more frequent, but we are not quite there yet. I think this is still a bit early to expect them to sleep through the night. 6 months is when more babies will make it.

I have never been a fan of crying it out...any more than 15 min. is too much for me to handle when they are that young. A lot of Dr's will tell you too, but as a parent you have to decide what works best for you and your baby.
This is what works for me:
I mix her cereal in her bottle at night( I know, Dr. says not to, but she eats it with a spoon in the a.m.) I just make a 6 oz bottle and use about 2 oz of it to make really thick cereal and then I put the cereal back into the bottle. That way she is getting the cereal and still having a bottle.

She usually stirs around 2:30 or 3am and I just give her the pacifier and try to get her back to sleep. I don't pick her up unless she is really upset. Then she will sleep until 4:30 or 5am and wants a bottle. Always try to sooth him back to sleep before you give in to a bottle, it should be a last resort not a quick fix. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but the more you hold out the longer he will go each night.

You could also try to reduce the amount you give him every night. For example: first night he wakes give him 4 oz, second night 3 oz and so on. In a week or so he should phase out of the night feeding completely.

Just make sure that you are persistant in whatever you try, it won't happen over night. You will have a few rough nights for a few days maybe even a week, but just remember the reward is that you will get more sleep in the long run!

P.S. My daughter is also eating every 4 hours during the day. I think it makes a big difference of how she eats at night! She was having 4 oz every 3 hours and the Dr told me that to get her to eat every 4 hours increase the time by 15 mins in between bottles. The fisrt time I held her out for 3 hrs 15 mins, then for 3 hrs 30 mins, until we reached 4hrs. It was trying, but she changed her schedule within 3 days.

Good luck with whatever you choose and sorry if my response was so long...we are just going through the exact thing right now.
M.

At 4 mos., your LO should be able to sleep about 4 hour stretches at night. This is the gauge I would use to determine if he needs that bottle. If he doesn't, you could decrease the amt by an oz. each night or so till he is weaned off of this feeding.

HTH and you both get the sleep you need. Blessings~C.

I would continue to meet his needs by feeding him when he is hungry. I trust that you know the cry. I would change him and rock him to comfort him when he wakes up and then if he doesn't go to sleep, I would feed him. Do you give him the cereal at night? That was when I feed my children and it seemed to help them sleep through the nights. At four months old, he needs to build trust that you will be there to meet his needs when he is sad or hungry.

Hi D.,
It is good to listen to your doctor. Your one sounds like a mean person though. Get one who doesn't give out that kind of advice. I had one of the best pediatricians ever who never told me to not have my babies in bed with me. He may be really starving and need that feed. They grow really fast at that age.
Never let a baby cry until they are hysterical. It is heartbreaking. Your son is still only really young though. I believe in following my instincts when it comes to doing the best for my babies. I would feed him and pick him up as well. Try not to talk too much though. My 3 year old still comes and gets into bed with me at night. I feel that they are babies for such a short time don't miss out on giving love in any way that they need. Babies who are breast fed get fed during the night. Most babies still get fed during the night when they are only 4 months old. I have been living in Singapore for the last nearly 4 years and they are firm believers in not leaving the baby to sleep by themselves until they are toddlers. Their children grow up with good family values. Ultimately he is your baby. If you want to feed him and pick him up during the night I say go for it. You love him and he deserves to have a cuddle with mommy when he needs it. There is pleny of time when he is older to establish sleep patterns. I never was keen on making them sleep by themself so young. You have many sleepless nights ahead of you. It is something that goes with motherhood. I wish you all the best with your new baby. They are such a blessing. You will be amazed at the things they can do.

W.

Hey D.,
I am totally new at this as well. I have a 4 1/2 month old little boy. This is what worked for us. We give him a 3oz. bottle of formula along with 2 tablespoons of a veggie(this week it is carrots) for dinner around 5 or 6pm then a bath at 7:30 and his last feeding at 8:00 (a 6oz. bottle of formula). He sleeps from 8:30pm to 5:00am. We found that cereal right before bedtime for him did not settle well(despite what everyone told us, that it would help him sleep longer) so we switched back to just a bottle before bed & it has helped tremendously. Also, I think the bath calms him down -he really likes bath time. As far as crying in the middle of the night, we experienced exactly what you did - first i would always try to rock him back to sleep without a feeding, but if the screaming persisted for like 30 min. we knew he was hungry and would give him a bottle. But most of the time he just wanted to be held. Then we weaned him from wanting to be held by just letting him "talk" in his crib until he fell back asleep. It is hard if they are screaming but you can do it in 10 min. increments. After he cries for 10 min. go in and comfort him & put him back down, if he wakes up crying again do it all over again. It is definately a process and sometimes it is just easier to feed them and put them back down. Your doing your best - keep it up!

Personally I went with everyone sleeps..everyone is happy. Your baby is still so little. I breastfeed my son, so when he woke up at night he would come to our bedroom and feed. That stopped at about 6 months when I started to give him a bottle. THen he got a bottle if he woke up for one. I did try to feed him a little more milk at night to see if he would make it. Sometimes he did. Anyway, people would tell me he was too old and that he would get used to it etc..but you know you are the one having to deal with it. I just did what my instincts told me to do and now he is 17 months old and he doesn't feed at night, and all is well.

I am a mother of 5 kids. I fed my children during the night because they were hungry. The older the babies got the more they ate during these early morning feedings and eventually they would start sleeping through the night. You know your child go with your instinct. Thats all you have all babies are different. The doctors go by some book that says this is how it is done. I had one tell my friend that you should not feed the baby cereal until they are 12 months old and another was told not to give the baby water for the firtst 6-8 months. I am in the medical field and have been for 23 years now that was the craziest thing I ever heard of. Hydration, hydration, hydration!!!! Babies need this.
Go with your gut it's your baby. If it's hungry and that is the cry you associate with it being hungry feed it!!!!!

Melisa W.

My son was an eater delux. I'd mix his bottles, 50% oatmeal cereal and 50% formula. The oatmeal was a heavier grain and it seemed to stick to his bones better. I'd put it in the blender and blend away. With that much cereal, that's the only way I could get a well-balanced bottle that was edible. People were amazed at his bottles, but it worked great for him. He was also a refluxy baby and that helped a bunch. He was sleeping through the night very early on. I also "tricked" his crib so he could entertain himself when he woke up. The Fischer Price "Ocean Wonders" was the ticket. He'd wake up and play and go back to sleep.

I was feeding him a bottle at night cuz' that's what I thought was called for. And the doc told me the same thing. If he "needed" anything, just water. I was able to pull the nighttime bottles and not have a problem.

Good Luck!

Dear D., it is obvious that you are a loving mother doing the very best for your baby. Just because someone is a doctor doesn't mean that they know better how to handle your baby.(As a first time mommy my pediatrician wanted my daughter on a schedule and told me to feed her every 4 hrs. Sometimes she would scream for an hour then when it was "time" to feed her, she(and I) were so upset from screaming, she would gulp it down then be gassy or vomit.) Every baby is different. Your gut instinct is that he is hungry because as soon as he is fed, he is right back to sleep. Your baby is still very young and a healthy eater. My suggestion is to continue to bottle feed him when he wakes. As he grows, he will eat more at each feeding and stay satisfied for longer periods of time. There is no benefit to having him wail during the night and you worry and cry as well. I'll bet that in another month, that he will be satisfied and sleep a bit longer. A compromise would be to give him water at the 2:30a feeding to see if that helps. You are doing a great job loving your baby. Do what you can to get some sleep yourself. Trust your instincts-you know more than you are giving yourself credit for! Love,C.

The only sleep training method I could find that involved no crying was in the book Twelve Hours of Sleep by Twelve Weeks, which I bought at Borders. It worked for my baby by 3 months. The gist of it was to space out their meals during the day to every four hours. I did this by carrying her around in a baby bjorn so that she forgot about eating. There were more steps having to do with gradually reducing the amount of the night time feedings, but for a lot of babies including mine, it's enough to space out the day meals. She spontaneously slept through the night then. Sad to say, at around 7 months, she started to wake up again. Ah well...

If you want your son to sleep through the night (or at least a longer amount of time than he currently does) and he is not having eating issues now, feed him more rice cereal before bedtime. Do not just make 4 oz and stop there. Make 8 oz and feed him what he will eat, babies are good and telling you when they have had enough. Once you recognize how much of it he actually eats you can start just making that amount, but keep in mind he will have growth spurts that will cause him to want more or less periodically.

As for your doctor. They do not live with you and your child. Ultimately how you raise and feed your child is your choic, provided that child thrives and continues to have good well baby checks. Advice is only that, advice. You can take it or leave as you see fit for your lifestyle.

If you want to get more sleep, then offering more at each feeding he will turn asided what he does not want. Some children grow faster than others, your child's metabolism does not necessarily reflect that of the average and he may be burning his calories at a faster rate. Same goes with during the day. Stop worrying about exact measurements and offer your child what he wants. This will allow him to set his own internal feeding schedules and things should start leveling out.

Good Luck

Unfortunately this isn't really abnormal. I can only suggest that you have the babysitter change his daily rountine and not let him sleep as much. The older he gets he will soon start sleeping longer at night.

First of all I believe that if holding or rocking your child back to sleep helps to ease the transition then it can't be wrong. I do the same thing when my son is sick and having troubles sleeping. Kids need comforting and knowledge that you're there.
I've also heard that in some cases the rice cereal can cause there blood sugar to drop at night causing them to wake more frequently. I know the goal for all of us mom's is to get them into a proper sleep cycle but my son wasn't ready to sleep through the night until he was 9 months. Good Luck and all you can do is continue with trial and error.

Ok so here are my opinions and what I have chosen for our family. First of all you will find methods and decisions that work for you. What works for everyone won't necessarily work for you.

I don't take parenting advice from my pedi. I know my kids and I can figure it out. I use my pedi for the sole purpose of medical issues.

So the questions I asked myself were:
Do I want to let him cry?
Am I ok with this feeding?
Do I want/need the behavior to change?

I did not let any of my children cry themselves to sleep as babies, mostly they didn't cry in bed at night until they were about 3 (when I knew they knew the rules and what I was asking of them). Of course my husband and I still cuddle with our kids. It started when both of us were working and we continue it because too soon they will be too old for it and we will miss it so we are sucking it up while we can. Same for babies. I get up lots with my 3 mos old. She is up 2 or 3 times a night but it is ok with me because I chose it. I am not working however and when I was it was brutal with my first son. Your decisions will be what works for you.

There are some things you might be able to do. First of all the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley worked great for my first son. We had to be more imaginative with my second son. She teaches a slow pull off technique, where you cut the times of the feeding more and more each time until they no longer wake for them. So say you fee Michael for about 5 minutes (or whatever amount of time makes sense to you and Michael) and you think he is asleep you can gently remove the bottle, if he notices you have taken it out and is getting agitated replace it count to 15 and start again. Eventually you should be able to feed him less and less and he will eventually make the connection and start to fall asleep w/out a bottle. I did this with my children (except I was nursing) and it paid off. Granted it will take longer but like I said it is what feels right for you.

I hope that helps. Good Luck I am not sure my email is on here if not ____@____.com. I hope you find your way. Respect your mothers intuition and your feelings about the decision that you make.

Whatever your decision. There is something to be said for not doing what doesn't feel right and going with your gut. Sort of allows you to get to know your children better and yourself ya know?

Hang in there Mama!
J.

First, I always say go with your instincts first time mother or not. You know your child's cries. Babies start sleeping through the night at different times - some at 2 months and others not until 6 months. My boys both were around 4 1/2 months when they started sleeping better (6 hours or more at a stretch). It wasn't until they showed a pattern of sleeping through a feeding (5 nights or more in a row) that I would drop a night nursing.

If you think he is hungry he probably is. You might try making sure he has solid food in the evening aorund 6 to help fill his belly and then giving him more formula then you usually do and letting him drink his fill before going to sleep. If he falls asleep while eating you can try waking him up a little and feeding some more. One thing I did with nursing was to give a big feeding, the little one fell asleep, I would let him sleep 30-45 minutes, then wake him up and give him another good feeding. He would then sleep 6-8 hours without waking. BUT, I wouldn't worry about it if he still needs night feedings for awhile. When he gets older and relies on more solids he will probably sleep better. If he is still waking up at 6 months and wanting formula then you may need to re-strategize.

If you are REALLY worried about the baby being hungry and that he might associate the bottle with sleep there is an easy solution. Feed him, if he falls asleep on the bottle don't be all gentle trying not to wake him when you put him down. Gently wake him just a little, pick him up over your shoulder and in a cuddle walk him to the bed and put him to sleep. This will wake him some but not all the way so that he should be able to fall asleep and it disassociates the bottle. We did something similar with nursing.

Also, you can start a bedtime routine at this time (say goodnight to pictures or stuffed animals, read a book, whatever) and as long as you are consistent with the routine when he first goes down at least he will associate this ritual with sleep more than the bottle (good for when you totally night wean). Though never let your baby fall asleep in his crib with the bottle in his mouth, that does start bad habits and isn't good for developing teeth.

As for cuddling when he cries, I went on the theory that if it was just fussing, stay out of the room don't bother going in and see if they will go back to sleep. If it escalates to wailing or goes on for more than 5 minutes then go in to check, but once I went in the room I always picked my babies up. Check the diaper (mine hated wet ones even in their sleep) and then cuddle and walk or rock them back to at least drowsy if not asleep and put them back to bed.

My boys are 14 months and almost 3 years and both have relatively good sleep habits now.

Hope this helps with ideas, but you need to do what is right for you.

First of all--listen to your doctor. Being a mother is hard on you--really it is. Try this. I had a premie. Do not start your kid on foods your doctor does not give you permission to do first. You can make your kid fat and unhealthy if you do. We know that is not what you want to do. Give you kid an 8 oz bottle with 2 oz on rice all day-every bottle. If your kid does not eat it all that is ok. But feed him every 4 hours. Just cause he cries does not mean he is hungery. If you feed him when he cry---he will eat. At night just pat him on the back--DO NOT pick him up. Just let him know you are there and you have not left him. He will go back to sleep. Him sleeping through the night depends on your and your husbands schedule. Do not change it around him. Get up and go down at the same time. Sleep in different rooms due to your schedule. I am talking about the baby not your husband and you--ok. I have 7 kids. My kids slept through the night at 4 months old-but I listen to my doctors. Feedings change with each child. If you are putting your child to bed at 8:30 expect him to get up at 6. Do not wake him up--just check on him.

Hi D.: I know its very frustrating, my duaghter didn't sleep thru the night until she was 13 months old!! No one mentioned to me the following which worked for us, cut out the last nap of the day. It will be hard for him the first 2-3 days but it will make improvements for him to sleep thru the night within a few days. If he does wake up, give him a half bottle (or half of what he usullay has) of water (or half milk at first if he inisists).

As far as rocking him or cuddling with him when he does wake up, that does need to stop. I KNOW its VERY hard not to but he will eventually learn to put himself to sleep (it took my daughter 4 nights to do this). He will scream and scream, seems like he might even 'pass out' from it but he will learn. I would go to her room and just rub her back or head until she drifted back to sleep, which may take a few minutes as well. Another thing we did for a while is put her to bed with us (I know everyone says DO NOT do that, but for a couple of nights it will not hurt). Our daughter could feel me next her and that was some comfort for her sleep better and not wake up.

However, 4 months is VERY young. Please be patient and remember this is only a phase and he will eventually grow out it. I am a first time mom and its hard, but it gets so much better, trust me.

Again, these methods worked for us, every baby is different, but cutting out the last nap of the day really worked.

Good luck and hopefully you will get sleep soon!

A. (Austin, TX)

a doctor once said that the 2 am feeding is like you getting up every night and eating a hamburger, we all know that isn't a good idea. however, if you have eaten a hamburger every night, all your life at 2 am, then all of a sudden stopped. you'd be extremely hungry.

you can try to feed your son a little more cereal at bedtime, and make sure he gets a bottle, that will help to hold him longer. he might still wake up out of habit wanting a bottle. try to make him wait. rock him and soothe him, but make him wait. it's time consuming, and for a while you won't get enough sleep, but if you can make him wait from 3 to 3:30, then 3:45, then 4, then 4:30 etc. whatever time he wakes up, make him wait, eventually he will sleep thru the night. it's hard to do, but well worth it in the long run. i did this with all 4 kids, and i only wish i had started earlier with my oldest. good luck

Hi D. - Every child is different. My now 5 year old son was literally a horrible sleeper but our 3 yr old daughter was a great sleeper since birth. Because of issues with our son, I started a web and mobile software company called Babble Soft (www.babblesoft.com) that helps parents track and record feeding, diapers, medicines, and recently we added sleep. This way people can look at how, when, by whom baby is put to sleep and when he is waking up. I know that when we were extremely sleep deprived we could barely add 2 + 2 so we created the software to help new parents discern patterns in baby's sleep and feeding schedules.

We have a fully featured free trial so you might want to check it out to see if it works for you.

Also, one of my readers did a great guest post on my blog called 15 tips for surviving the world's youngest insomniac that might be helpful: http://www.entrepremusings.com/index.php/2008/04/02/15-ti...

Good luck!

A.
blog: www.entrepreMusings.com

My child will be 4 months at the end of this month. She has been sleeping thru the night since 8 weeks. Please go buy the book "Babywise." I read this book and pretty much stuck to it.

It was tough but it is right on the money. Your son is not learning to fall asleep on his own because he needs to props to go to bed i.e. rocking him and/or giving him food to fall asleep.

My suggestion is to get your son on a 3 1/2 hour schedule for the daytime. Feed him, play with him, and then put him down, in this order. It will be rough at first and you will shed some tears but I promise it is well worth it.

There are lots of opinions on when a baby should sleep through the night, but the American Academy of Pediatrics says that most babies will not sleep through the night until 6 to 8 months. I am not sure what you pediatrician is thinking, but it is also a violation of the AAP's recommendation that newborn babies (and your son still is newborn) be fed whenever they ask for it. I would say, having raised three little ones myself all of whom slept through the night of their own accord by 7 months, that you just want to let your son set his own pace. If he stops being interested in the bottle, has a lot of difficulty getting back to bed after feeding, skips the feeding, or starts waking up more frequently for snuggling, these could all be signs that he is not waking up to eat but instead waking up to be with you or your husband. Believe it or not, your baby will start sleeping through the night of his own accord just as he put himself on a schedule during the day.

I went through the exact same thing with my son. I did get up and feed him at 2:00 AM. I knew he was hungry and he would not stop crying. He eventually got better about waking up at 2:00 AM and stopped doing that when he was about 5 months old.. He would sleep until 5:00AM and then gradually slept until 6:00 AM..just hang in there,it will get better..and I would rock him back to sleep, I knew he was hungry and I couldn't stand to hear him cry.

Your instinct sounds right that your baby is probably hungry. It is dangerous to let your baby CIO. I am a mother of three and tried not picking my first child up, letting her CIO. The result: no one got any sleep and it was extremely stressful. One time her leg was caught inbetween the slats of the crib(even though it was code), and another time I checked on her, she has spit up and had urp all over the back of her head and was lying all over it. Babies cry for a reason and it is their only means of communication. One book that helped me was Super Baby Food. Even if you don't make all of your own baby food (it's easier than you think), it has a wonderful guide that tells you what babies should be eating and suggested first foods. My children loved avacado, bananas, banana as their first foods. I also made batches of "super baby porridge" which was basically a watered down oatmeal--recipe is in the book. Babies don't learn to "soothe" themselves back to sleep. The reason they stop crying is that they give up because no one is responding to their needs. My first baby was such a poor sleeper that she slept in our bed and we all slept like a log. Another thing to try, is put your baby on his tummy. If he is rolling over by himself than he can do it anyway. I did this with my second and third and it made all the difference in the world. Babies digest better when they are on their tummy. Your baby may be going through a growth spurt, when they will eat more frequently. Most baby books don't cover this subject very well. Your first priority is do what is necessary to get some rest yourself so you will be happy mommy and happy wife. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

D.,

A little about me--My husband works almost 90 hours a week and I know how you feel. Our son is now 16 mo. old. O.K., at five weeks old we had to put oatmeal cereal in every bottle because be had reflux. This was orderred by our pediatrician. Austin was never over weight. If your child is hungry, then I would supplement with cereal in his bottle more than twice a day so it carries over into the night. Austin would wake up at 1:oo in the morning than at 6:00. I guess it was the cereal. I never had thought about it until I read your email. Our pediatricain told us not to pick ours up either after you put them down, but it's just what you think is best I believe. I aways rocked Austin to sleep. I am glad now, because he is so busy, he only sits in my lap when I'm reading to him or reading him his bed time stories. By the way--I can lay him down now (awake) and he waves and says night, night. Things get better. But if you truely think your son is hungry, put cereal in his bottle. They make cereal nipples for bottles. Avent calls theirs "variable flow". If I made a 6oz. bottle then I would put 3 Tablespoons of cereal. We used oatmeal cereal because he had a hard time digesting rice, but is fine now. Good Luck.
H.

This is such a difficult subject because sometimes what you have to do goes against your instincts. I mean, how on earth are we NOT to comfort our crying babies?? Especially when it sounds like a hunger cry.

I am wondering what his feeding schedule is during the day at day care...is he eating every 2 1/2 hours there as well? If so, he is getting plenty to eat and he is using the 2am feeding like a sleeping crutch. This is a difficult habit to break! However, if he is not eating much at daycare, then he is legitimately hungry. I would try to up the amount of formula and rice during the day. Hey, some kids are big eaters and thats OK!

Maybe give him larger feedings during his awake time, play with him or have your caregiver play with him and keep him awake for at least an hour after feedings to burn some of that energy before putting him down to sleep. It is good to tire them out before putting them to bed.

The only thing I can recommend is the book Baby Wise. I did as the book instructed for the first five months of my little girls life. My girl was sleeping through the night for 6 hours at first, then it moved up to 8 hours by the time she was 3 months old.

Every baby is different with different temperaments, but it is worth a shot!

Good Luck! It sounds like you are doing a great job.

S.

I think you should trust yourself, and don't worry so much about following the doctors orders. You need the sleep, you don't need the stress, and he is only 4 months old. You don't need to "train" him to sleep through the night yet, especially if you are uncomfortable with it. If he were closer to 1 year, I would agree that you could start eliminating the nightime feeding.

Hi D.! Hope you sleep better soon. I understand the situation you are in because my husband is a police officer too and worked the late shift. It was just me and my son and he didn't sleep through the night until he was 18 months old. I was like a zombie during the day and it killed me. With my second child, I was given a book called "Sleeping through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and their Parents can get a good nights sleep" by Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D. It was a life saver. Some of the greatest things I learned were to put the baby to bed awake, but sleepy. This gets them used to self soothing. (You may want to start this on a weekend during nap time, because it may take Michael a few naps to get used to the idea of going to sleep on his own.) I know that you want to spend time with him and rock him to sleep, but he comes to need that and won't be able to go back to sleep on his own. You can still rock him, just don't do it until he is asleep and instead put him in bed still awake. I was told by my doctor to give cereal at around 6 pm so that it had time to settle (I found that oatmeal cereal stayed with my daughter longer). Then he said to feed her a bottle (she drank about 3 ozs) every two hours from then until bed time. This gave her the frequent feedings and personal time she thought she needed during the night. At night I would give her a water bottle when she woke up and then put her back in bed awake. Make sure that you use a nipple that has the fewest amount of holes in it, because the water is thinner than the formula. She had a baby friendly animal (no hard nose or eyes that could be chewed off and swallowed) in her crib near her head so that she could see it. When I put her in bed she would smile at the puppy and make cooing noises to it and fall asleep. Within about 4 days, she was waking up a night, "talking" to the puppy and going back to sleep because the water wasn't worth getting up for.

The good thing about putting Michael to bed awake is that anyone can put him down for you on the rare occasion you get a break. When you are the one who rocks Michael every night and puts him to sleep, Michael will see that as your routine and Dad won't be able to help out when he is available. My daughter is 2 now and when she is ready for a nap or bed (8pm) she says "night night Mommy" and wants to go to bed. I lay her down and she goes right to sleep as long as she has the puppy she has had in her bed since she was born.

Good Luck and I hope that all of the advise you have received helps you!

T.

I don't believe in letting them cry at such a young age. I am with you, when my son is hungry I feed him. Have you tried a bigger bottle before bed? My son is six months old and is drinking an 8oz bottle before bed. He then gets me up once about 3, especially when he is on a growth spurt. One of the tricks that helps him sleep through when he is not really hungry, is putting my shirt that I wore that day in his crib with him as a blanket. Being able to smell me seems to really help him sleep more peacefully and longer.

As am mom ,you do what makes your life and you babies life easier. My son (who is now 6 yrs.old)woke up for a middle of the night bottle until he was 18 mths.old.
Then all of a sudden he stopped.
Trust your "mommy insticts".
I would rather rock my baby back to sleep, then have him cry out for an extended period of time.
Remember, you are that babies mommy,not the Dr. and you are the one that has to liste to your son cry and be upset ,not the dr.
Do what makes your families life easier.
Good Luck.

I had a very same incident with my little one...it seems, I was feeling the exact same way. MY doctor told me that it was colic and that empty feeling that we think they are having is the air in thier bellies. I would feed just as your were and he would still be hungry. I would rock him and it would just not help. I started to bounce him genly in my arms and that really seemed to help. If you want to try, give him some water. it will help frustrate him from wanting food and will help make him feel full....I would also give him a little colic medicine in his last bottle of the night. That also seemed to help...good luck

D.,

Your baby is learning to communicate with you, since you recognize that his cry is a cry of hunger, I would feed him. You can not spoil an infant child. They do not know how to become spoiled. You are a good new mom to be able to recognize the types of cries he has. Infants only know that their needs need to be met. If picking him up and holding him gets him to fall asleep do that. Feed him if he is hungry. Babies are constantly moving when they are in your belly, every movement you felt when you were pregnant with him, he felt. He is used to being rocked and moved constantly. If he becomes fussy after you have fed him and won't fall back asleep try making a loud shhhhhhh noise in his ear. Or put a radio in his room on static. The static sooths him because that is what he heard in your tummy.
My husband works for the Sheriff department overnights so I know the feeling of being home alone. It is a huge adjustment and sleep is going to come back to you.

God Bless
Z.

I would recommend reading the book "Baby wise" it is very good and it gives you ideas on issues such as sleeping through the night. I just had our fourth and final in December 2007 and if it weren't for becoming "baby wise" I would be crazy :) Both our 4 month old and 19 month old had/have colic yet by 6-8 weeks they were sleeping through the night on the baby wise schedule. Good luck...I feel for your lack of sleep :) It will pass!

Give Michael a good feeding before putting him to bed. Then when he wakes up, change his diaper, and leave the room. He'll wail but he'll live. Since he has set his day time feeding, you being the parent should set his night time feeding. Hang in there.

My son does the same thing. They are just growing boys and I think you should keep feeding him.. My doctor says that once he starts taking in more solid foods besides the rice cereal, he will be sleeping through the nights. Also, soon your son will be getting tired from crawling and all of that good stuff. So, I think you are doing great and you know your son best. Maybe add a lunch with rice cereal in it as well...
Good luck..Sounds to me that you are doing fine and I would continue b/c soon he will be getting more exercise and more solids which equates to a full night of sleep...

You have gotten lots of advice, so I will keep this short and sweet. Feed him more during the day. It sounds like he is ready to start solids. Try giving more cereal and starting yellow veggies. Babies do need to learn to comfort themselves and put themselves back to sleep, but it sounds like he is still hungry as well. I have 4 kids who all slept though the night by 7 or 8 weeks. We did let them cry it out, but only after all of their needs are met. Good luck.

Hi, D.,

I recommend The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. I've read the toddler version (you'll want the one for babies) & it meshes with my parenting philosophies. Your doctor's suggestions do not mesh for me, & I would not be able to continue to use a doctor who gave such advice. I believe, & there's lots of info out there to support me, that babies sleep as they do to protect them from SIDS, that they should be fed on demand, and that their digestive systems are not ready for solid food before 6 months (even if their hands think they are). I would recommend that you do some researtch & make choices that feel right to you. I think sometimes doctors make recommendations for the sake of a parents' convenience. Parenting is anything but convenient. It's incredible, but it's not supposed to be easy. It's about learning & growing for us as much as our children - & learning & growing are not easy-peasy things to do. I wish you the best & hope you'll learn to trust your instincts. Seeking information outside of the doctor's office, as you are here, can help you gain the confidence to do so.

i would feed him. my DD was 10 lbs at birth, and ate every 90 minutes round the clock until she got old enought for solid food. he'll grow out of it.
the thing about sleep is it is a learned behaviour. if u always rock him to sleep, that's how he's going to get used to falling asleep.

I am not an expert or a doctor, but I can't believe this doctor is saying not to console your baby when he is crying! Wow I know how it is to have a "bigger baby" My daughter was 10 5 at birth! (Don't ask me how because it came as a HUGE shock to all of us...Must of been all the spinach.. Anyhow at 7 months she still wakes up to eat at night. Not as much now maybe 1 or 2 times and some nights she will sleep all the way through... She also can put away 2 jars of food at one sitting from time to time.. While she is in the 95% for her weight my doctor tells me not to worry and feed her when she is hungry... THEY ARE BABIES... They need to be fed when they are hungry and consoled when they are crying. Maybe there are other moms out there than can shed some light on this but I don't understand why she is saying to leave the child crying? I would just be patient my daughter just started to really sleep through the night at 6 months... and sometimes she will get up 1 or 2 times but that is pretty rare now..

Hi,
My name is M. and I have a 4 year old daughter and a 7 month old son. We rocked my daughter to sleep every night for the first 18 months and I breastfed until she was 8 months old. My son on the other hand, was not rocked. I guess you can say that we learned our lesson. Right after he nursed and burped we would lay him down. He weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. when he was born. At about two months I was going through what you are going through (waking up every two hours b/c he was hungry). At that point I started putting about 1/2 tsp. of cereal in his 9:00pm bottle. He was sleeping from about 9:00--3:00 a.m. At 3:00am. he would nurse and go right back to sleep. At about 3 1/2 months I started feeding him cereal (he eats his dinner by 7:00pm.) and then at about 9:00pm he would take a 4oz. bottle with 1/2 tsp. of cereal. Once he started eating cereal with a spoon he started sleeping until about 5:00am. My doctor reminded me that at 2, 4, and 6 months they go through a growth spurt and need to eat more to feel full. This was soooo true with both of my children. My son is now 7 months and he is currently teething, so we are up all night, monitoring the low grade fever, and applying orajel. At this point, I am rocking him, b/c it makes him feel better. They are only little once. I didn't want to rock him, but how can you resist, especially when they are in pain. My thoughts are: One day my children are going to be too embarrassed to hug me, so I want to get in all I can right now. My husband feels the same way. So my advice to you is: Rock on!!

Hi D.,
Well by the "textbook" your baby is ready to sleep through the night. HOWEVER I know my son didn't follow the textbook. In fact he was about 9 months before he was sleeping good. I never did the "cry it out" method. It broke my heart. My pedi gave me a pamplet to read. I'll tell you what I did. I started by lessing how long my son ate when he woke up in the middle of the night (he is breast fed so I'm sure in onces). Then (by my pedi's suggestion) after he got down to hardly eating I started supplementing water at the midnight feeding. He did not want this and after two or three nights he really didn't wake up anymore. I did notice that he started eating a little more in the day. Really I wouldn't force it. He might just not be ready. You know your baby best just follow your heart and I'm sure you'll do fine! Good luck

D.,

I totally understand what you're going through. I think the sleeplessness of being a new mother is by far the hardest thing, as well as the constant different opinions on what's best for our little infants.

As well-informed as your pediatrician may be, I think she may be looking at your situations from a more "clinical" point of view rather than from a mother's nurturing perspective.

In your case, my advice would be to follow your heart, and not be guided by an outside opinion. If especially you do not feel comfortable, then definitely by all means, do what is right for you. If your baby is waking due to hunger, then the best course of action would be to feed him. He may also be waking to be comforted (as I have found with my own daughter)There are many reasons as to why they wake, but the most important is that they feel secure in knowing that if they cry, there will be a corresponding reaction, ie. mommy will come. In your specific case, to feed him.

I think each baby is individual and has individual requirements. There is no "one size fits all solution" that can be applied to each and every case. Some babies sleep through the night, some don't. Some eat more frequently than others, and some are able to soothe themselves better than others.

Again, I do feel that your Pediatrician is coming from a good place, however, your son may still be a bit young for self-soothing, based on his night-waking patters.

As we know now, from our parents generation, the pediatrician's were not always correct. Had they been right 20, years ago, then we would still be putting our babies to sleep on their tummies (major SIDS concern) feeding them cereal at 3 weeks, and starting whole cow's milk at 4 months!!! I think the best advice anyone can give you is to follow your heart, and do what feels best for YOU.

Hope this helps,
R. (Mom to Emma, almost 7 months, and NO she's not sleeping through the night, and still wakes to feed at least 2x, ha ha :)

I feel for you. My husband is a Paramedic and I am often home alone with our son.

My son was sleeping through the night at 3 months and then around month 4 he stopped. He is now 7 months old and sleeping through the night again. (Yeah! My sanity is returning) Looking back at it now I know that my son was getting up because of a couple of growth spurts, teething and an ear infection. Unless you are sure that there is nothing wrong with your son then I would not recommend just letting him cry.

Does he take a pacifier? I was able to get my son to sleep through the night (1st time) by giving him a pacifier. That would only work for an hour, but gradually he would move the time back that he was getting up. A couple of other things that I had read (I tried them and they worked great) was moving his bed time to earlier. I thought that if I put him to bed later he would get up later, but when I started to put him to bed around 6:30 - 7:00 he started to sleep better. Also, when it gets closer to the evening try feeding him every 2 hours instead of 3 hours.

I know that it is hard and it may come down to letting him cry it out so you can keep your sanity, but I would try these first. Also, make sure he isn't going through a growth spurt or teething.

I wish you the best :)

D.,
I personally and professionally think that your pediatricians advice of not feeding your baby at 2-3am or not comforting him when he is crying in order to train him to sleep through the night is completely off base and unfounded. Your baby needs you to care for his needs. My advice is to follow your Motherly Laser Intuition and do what you feel your child needs in the moment. Breast milk is best but, adding a better source of protein to feeding before bedtime may prevent baby from waking when blood sugar levels fall during the night. This happens in adults as well. Your pediatrician sounds like she is not a mother and could use some education.
www.duvewellnesscenter.com
Dr. S. Duve

If it was my child, I would feed him. You are his mother and if you recognize the cry, then go ahead and feed him. He's only 4 months old. I would be heartbroken thinking that the little guy was hungry. I have 3 kids and I am all for them sleeping through the night and having to cry it out at some point if necessary, but personally, 4 months still seems kind of young.

I personally would feed him a larger bottle, try increasing an ounce at a time and see if that helps the time period between feedings. I'd also give him at least 6-7 ounces of formula at night along with the cereal. You can try to keep him up a little later than usual and feed him right before bedtime, after his bath. He should be sleeping more through the night by 4 months, and so should you.
Another thought, are you mixing the cereal with formula or buying it in a jar already made? Sometimes it helps to give them cereal out of the jar, I have no idea why, but one of my kids slept better with the jar cereal, and then a bottle of formula. I'm no doctor, I'm just a mom and a grandmother.
As far as rocking him or doing whatever when he wakes up at 3:00am, try going in there, keep the room as dark as possible and be as quiet as possible too, be sure he's dry and lay him back down and comfort him until he's settled down and falling back to sleep. You can shorten the time you spend in the middle of the night each night also, that way, it won't become a habit and he also won't think of it as "mommy and me" time.
I honestly believe a child needs to know if he cries out at night, his cries won't be ignored.
You might also want to find out just how much he really is sleeping during the day at daycare...he could be sleeping too much (from being bored) and that's why he only makes it about 6 hours at night. He should be taking a morning nap and an afternoon nap and not after 4pm. That way, you can give him a dinner bottle, play, bath and then cereal and another bottle around 9-10pm and he should sleep through the night, about 8-9 hours.
Hope this helps you out some...
Good luck to you and Michael!!

Well D. let me just start by saying rock your baby, any advice that says not to is ridiculous to me. Most babies love that feeling and it comforts them. I did with both of my babies and they are just fine. Do what you have to do to get his little mind off of food.
Feeding him though as much as you say you are will only hurt him in the long run. It sounds to me that you are feeding him too much. I would give him a little drink of water when he wakes up like that.
Also I would try by giving him a soothing bath with lavender and then feed him before bed, also maybe buy one of those soothing noise machines to put in his room as well. One that makes the sound of the ocean or rain. My kids have one in their rooms now and it does wonders. I hope I have helped you.

My daughter had this same issue, she is now 5yrs old. I did the "sleep train" method at 8 months, however, I wish I had done it sooner. First, do not change the diapers at night, you wouldnt if they slept through the night, that is stimulation, as is the rocking. With my daughter I finalyy just had to realize that 1- she did not need to eat during the night, just give a little extra at the last feeding, 2- she did not need her diaper changed at night. It took 2 days of her waking up crying around 30min each time, she self soothed and did go back to sleep, after the second day, she slept through the night no problem! I know it is hard but in the end it is worth it for you and your little one.

I know it sounds crazy and you feel horrible when you let them cry at night but I promise you, it works. Some children take longer than others to make the transition, of course.

And I promise you, the long term effects of feeding them at night can haunt you until they're older. My first son, I did that with. He didn't sleep through the night until he was a year old. YOU DON'T WANT THIS. I promise you, girl. He's been 3 years old for a month now and he still has trouble falling asleep without being rocked or forced to lay down (with me in sight). If I'm not in sight he runs around like a crazy man. I fed him a few times a night like you're doing.

Now, I have a 5 month old daughter who I promised myself I WOULD NOT make that same mistake again and it's a beautiful thing! She sleeps ALL THE WAAAAAAY through the night. I started out feeding her at night..then I was like.."gotta stop this" So I did, I let her cry. Sometimes I'd pick her up for a minute to calm her down, but I'd put her right back.

sigh. She'd cry for a while, but it's the best thing for your sanity later.

Shaena

If you feel that your child is hungry, feed him. Doctors can never make up their minds and I have seen the change myself having had two children 10 years apart. Follow your instincts. You may try giving a little more cereal at night, but if he needs to be fed, do it.

You do what makes you feel comfortable, but they do learn that you will respond whenever they cry. I used the book Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. It saved me!! I realized how important rest is for the child and how they should lear to soothe themselves. Even if you have a co-sleeper this book is very helpful!

D., I am a mother of 5, and I remember those days quite well with my son that is 18 now. He was doing the same thing that your sons is doing. Take him to an ear specialist! Don't wait until the doctor tells you too. My son was the exact same way your son is. He may not be eating because he is hungry he may be eating because the swallowing is relieving the pressure from his ears. I constantly had my son at the doctors when he was an infant (he is my 2nd child) The pediatrician that I was using told me that I was crazy there was nothing wrong. They even told me that my first one was a good baby and slept all night and now I have a cryer and I can't handle it! That nothing is wrong!
By the time we had finally moved from there which meant changing pediatrcians my son had a 65% hearing loss. We did about 3 years of different medicines, Blowing bubbles, drinking from straws, chewing gum, etc. trying to get the fluid out of his ears then they wanted to fit him for hearing aids (that would not have helped) Which would have just amplified the muffled sounds that he was hearing.
Finally after moving again and changing peditricians again, This time we found a doctor that was excellent. He sent us straight to the Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor and they put tubes in his ears. My son had what they call Glue ear. It can not be seen with the scope. They have a little machine that they stick in the ear and the child only hears a ticking sound (sounds like a clock) but it measures the sound waves that are bouncing off the ear drum and lets them know if the canals are open into the ear drum.
By this time he was about 4 years old with a bad speech impediment. So following the tubes we had several years of speech theropy to go through. He did get a 2nd set of tubes at the age of 6 because his ears were closing up again this time they took his adnoids also. It was a very long process getting his ears back inshape but we did finally make it. Now at the age of 18 he has perfect hearing. So trust me on this. It may be worth your trip to a specialist! It would not be a waisted trip, even if I am wrong. It is better to be safe than sorry! A 4 month old baby can not tell you that something is wrong so they want what makes them feel better. If this is the problem nip it now it will save you and your son alot of misery!
My 4th child had a touch of the same thing when she was about 3 years old. But, we were still using the same doctor, he did not mess around, he sent her to the E N T and they put tubes in her ears and she never suffered with the pain that my son suffered with.
At 4 months old, a baby that is still not sleeping all night, there is something wrong! Don't stop until you find it! I only wish I would have known what I know now 18 years ago. I also have learned over the years that a second or even third opinion in not a waste of time!!! Please be sure to post an update on how things are going, I will be watching for what you find.
My name is A. B. I am 44 years old, My kids and I live outside Rosebud Texas. I am a mother of 5 wonderful kids! (4 girls and 1 boy) They range in age from 21 years old to 11 years old. I have always been a stay at home mom, and now I am a single parent trying to raise the 4 I have left at home. My son graduates next month! I do work at home so I am still with my kids when they are not at school I am not a pro at this but I have been through a lot with my kids!

Hi,

Personally, I am against any advice that tells you you should not hold, rock, soothe your children or otherwise make them feel safe and loved. Yeah, at some point he will stop crying if you don't do that, but I would say that's a sign he's 'given up', NOT that he is 'independent' (how could you be, at that tender age?). I say ignore that kind of advice no matter who it comes from. It's a trace left from our Victorian/Puritan history, the idea that children need love and comfort to be withheld from them so that they can 'grow up'. If they were able to 'grow up' so fast, we wouldn't have all that work--we could just send them on their way like many animals do.

About the eating at night: I agree that it probably has to stop at some point if you want him to sleep through the night, but how about a gradual decrease of the quantity instead of just going 'cold turkey'? That might be a gentler approach, It's pretty hard being hungry at night (I still sometimes have to get up and eat something before I can go to sleep, if I had dinner too early, let's say--imagine a baby!). So maybe keep feeding him ,but less and less each time until finally one night you simply rock him back to sleep. And maybe the day will come when you won't have to do that because he's just slept right through! (That's what my son did, eventually, by about age 1 1/2.)

Good luck!

G.

My rule of thumb: Hungry children will not sleep. I repeated it many nights, over and over to myself during the dead of night with a bottle in one hand and my daughter in the other. As your son's stomach grows bigger, he should be able to hold more from his last feeding and sleep longer through the night. As long as you're not consistently feeding him a whole other meal in the middle of the night, he shouldn't develop the sleep eating habit.

I have three kids, and they have all had widely varied sleeping patterns. My oldest, a boy, breastfed until he was 21 months, and he was in our bed, but he didn't stop waking up to nurse until around 19 months old when I first started trying to wean him. Back then, I thought he would never sleep through the night, or in his own bed, but by the time he was 2 1/2, he was sleeping in his own bed and going to sleep without me being there with him. That might have seemed like a long time, but now he's almost 6 and it's hard to recall how much I worried about his sleeping. The point of all this is that you have to do what is right for you and your child, and you should trust yourself more. There are so many different ways to go about these things, as is obvious from the various books that have been recommended to you, but your instincts will tell you what you need to do.

Well, after three kids, i have my own preferences about how they sleep. You have to figure out what YOU want from your baby and his night time sleep habits. If you reason that at 2:30 he's hungry and feed him and are ok with that then go ahead and feed him, and let that be a special "date" that you enjoy keeping for however long it lasts. In all honesty, if you feed him at 2:30, then he should be able to sleep through the rest of the the night and not need another bottle until 6:30 the earliest. (my own preference would be 8am, but we're all different.) Also, i've loved the freedom of being able to lay a fully away little one in the crib and let them go to sleep on their own. I've always done that with all 3 and must say, after seeing the mom's who are "happily" bound to rocking their babies to sleep every night, then trying oh so carefully to lay them down and not wake them up, i am VERY happy i just put my awake little ones in their crib and let them learn to sleep on their own. There's no right or wrong way, this is just where you get to decide who's going to be in control here. You or Doc or baby. *hint, i always vote for the MOM's side, it gives her greater influence later.
Also, if you let your son cry it out, you're not hurting him, you're not neglecting him... you ARE allowing him to work through "issues" on his own. He wants such and such, and you want something different. Up until now he's gotten everything he's ever wanted, that just can't go on forever. So this is an easy way for him to work though his own wants and needs... Hope this helps!

I also had the same trouble with my son who is now four years old. He actually teethed early and the bottles of formula throughout the nights caused cavities. The dentist told me to put only water in the bottles instead of cutting off cold-turkey. The transition was not as difficult as I thought it would be. It only took couple weeks for him to sleep through the night.

I hope this helps you!

Hi D.,
When you say you are feeding the cereal, are you putting it in the bottle? How many times a day does your child sleep and for how long? I always found that if my kids didnt nap after 2 in the afternoon and got a warm bath about 7pm along with a warm bottle with the cereal mixed in that they slept all night. I think that the warm cereal bottle at bedtime fills up thier precious little tummies and keeps them full through the night, My sister had a terrible time with her baby being colicky, but she was giving him 6oz of plain formula at bedtime and I think he had a hard time sleeping with all that liquid in his belly,as soon as she started adding the cereal, and stopped the late afternoon naps, he slept 7 to 7 every night.she's lovin it!!! I hope this helps, God Bless

D. - I too am a first time mother. My husband and I adopted our son at 10 weeks and when he was placed with us he was already on a great schedule. He would take his last bottle around 10:00 - 11:00 PM and then would usually wake around 2:00 AM but if left alone would put himself back to sleep. However, when he arrived in our home we kept him on the same schedule except for when he woke around 2:00 AM we picked him up and fed and comforted him. Which during that time it's what he needed. Soon it became twice a night that he would wake and we began the routine of feeding him. I also figured he must be hungry b/c he would drink his bottle right down and go right back to sleep. When we went to his 4mos. appointment our pediatrician told us that by his weight and size that he didn't need to be fed in the middle of the night and that was a routine that we created and it would be easier at 4 mos. to break him of it then waiting til later. As difficult as it was we took our Dr.'s advise and stopped. She also told us to not pick him up but we could go in and pat him on his back to try to calm him down but we would then need to leave the room. I'm not going to lie to you it was difficult and their was much anxiety listening to him be so upset but it was well worth it in the end. The first night it took him about an hour for him to go back to sleep - the 2nd night about 30 min - and the 3rd night maybe 15 to 20 minutes. After that it's never been a problem and began sleeping through the night. I know it's difficult but for both of you I would definitely struggle through those first few nights and hopefully you both can begin getting a good nights sleep.

Best of luck!
M.

Hi D.,

I had to learn this from friends, family and the doctor as well being a first time SAHM. Your doctor is right, he is just in the habit of waking up and being with you at night. I remember how hard it was for me to wrap my mind around the fact that he is not hungry......but he is of the age that he can sleep through the night and the only way to get him to do that is let him cry it out for a few nights. He will only cry for a few nights and then he will learn to put himself back to sleep, which is the goal. Good luck, everyone I know has done this and it works. Also, your son is at a very healthy weight at 13lbs so don;t worry, he is ok in that department.
Take care....and remember Moms all over are doing the same thing.

D.,
When my daughter was your son's age her doctor told me that she no longer needed to eat at night and not to feed her or pick her up during the night but to go into her room to reassure her that I was there. He instructed me to be prepared for her to really cry. If after 20 minutes or so, my daughter was still crying, the doctor said I should again go into her room to reassure her but not pick her up or feed her. He said it would be very difficult the first night and that she would also cry the second night but not as much and that she should sleep through the night the third night. Though it was very difficult, I followed her doctor's instructions and things went exactly as he said they would. This will be a tough assignment for you but do follow through. You'll be glad you did.

I love that most people told you that you have to go with your instinct and do what is best for you and your child instead of listening whole-heartedly to your Pedi. It irritates me beyond belief that my grandson's Pedi started out telling us that all children are different, then will give us an only one size fits all resolution. Keep in mind that what one Pedi tells you may be completely different than another because they were trained different. There is nothing wrong with rocking or not rocking your child, nor is there anything wrong with letting/not letting them "cry it out". What ever works best for you and your child. You are not having these issues because you are new at being a mother, it is because you are new at being Michael's mother. I know that you are a good mother because you are concerned. Don't let your Pedi make you feel bad about how you are handling your son. I wish you the best and I hope one or more of the other mother's suggestions help you find a solution to your problem. May God bless you in all that you do!!

When my son was an infant (27 yrs ago) I received a gift that, at the time, I thought was odd, but it became a LIFESAVER!!! It was a set of springs that you insert on the legs of the baby bed in place of the wheels that typically come on the beds. If baby awakens in the middle of the night, the springs allow you to gently rock the bed while you pat their back - and typically this will lull baby back to sleep without your picking them up. Also - if they roll over in their sleep - the gentle motion of the bed will rock them back to sleep - again without your assistance. The springs used to be available at Babies R us for about $30 for the set of 4 springs.

Another thing we did was, even if baby went to sleep around 8pm - we would awaken him just before we typically went to bed - about 10:30pm - for a final diaper change and feeding. This would get him settled for the night and allow him, and us, to get a full nights sleep (until 5 or 6am or so) without awakening. On those times he did awaken - we had the springs - so we reverted to the method above with the springs.

We felt the rocking crib created by the springs allowed us to train our son to sleep thru the night without sacrificing any crucial bonding. Our baby knew we were there - we just weren't picking him up - because sometimes,the picking them up actually awakens baby more.

I think that sleeping issues are the most prevalent with moms and babies. And - it is the one thing that will drive you crazy the quickest - because you get so tired too - so, hang in there.

About me - a 53 yr old working wife, mother of two grown children and "Grammy" to a delightful granddaughter.

Go with your instinct. Both my children were breastfed for 6 months and then bottles of pumped breastmilk until they were a year old (I never could keep them latched on long enough after 6 months...another story) My daughter did not sleep through the night until she was 9 months old. My son was 7 months old. I tried with my son around 4 months to get him to sleep through the night and it never worked. He would wake and cry off and on from 2 am for several hours until I fed him. He was hungry! I finally started feeding him a bottle (while he was sleeping) before I went to bed around 11 p.m. and that would get him to about 5 a.m. Around 7 months he started sleeping 12 hours at night.
Good luck I hope everyones advice will give you a solution.

Bottom line...you are his Mom and you should do what you feel is best because he is YOUR baby. If you need help getting him to sleep through the night I recommend the book Sleeping Through the Night by Dr. Jodi Mindell. I have read and re-read that book so many times it is falling apart. It addresses every sleeping issue known to man, and had both of mine sleeping 7pm - 7am by 3 months. It's a wonderful read and very insightful. I hope this helps. I know how hard those first few months can be. Good Luck!!!!

You are his mom. You do what feels right for you and your son. All pediatricians have their point of view, that's all it is - their OPINION. Just because s/he's an MD, does not make their word gospel. Everyone, even doctors, has an opinion on how to get babies to sleep through the night, I got up with my boys until they slept through the night by tnemselves. They won't wake up forever. Even if he just wanted your attention for a little bottle-snuggle with you, you know him and what he needs/wants.
Good luck!!
K.

My philosophy is to feed them when they want it. Period. I always did that with my son who is now 5. I also picked him up when he cried and rocked him to sleep. He needs you. Give him what he needs. People have this view that we should put our babies in a crib down the hall and let them scream. We are the only mammals that do this. Yes, we are evolved, but that doesn't mean we can't keep our children close to us, feed them when they are hungy, pick them up when they cry. he is only a baby once. My son is an angel and very well behaved. Don't let anyone tell you it will spoil them. It won't. Good luck.

Hey D.. I know this is gonna sound crazy. But I went to a Pure Romance party a few weeks back and my almost 2 yr old does not sleep through the night. Well they showed a product called Dream. The girl that did the show, said she uses it for her 9 month old. She has used it since the day she brought him home. She said he sleeps through the night and has always. The spray has to be sprayed everynight before putting them to bed. She sprays it and waits about 10 min before putting him in bed. It is all natural with patoulli and lavender. It smelled wonderful. I am waiting for my bottle to get here. I know if you get on the site and go under Tx. then Melissa and Goodrum. You will be on her page and can order. Or if you want, email me and I will give you her number. She will be glad to help you.

S. Schmidt
Premier Designs Jeweler
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It sounds terrible, but the doctor is correct. My son is now 3 years old and we went through the same thing. My doctor assured me, my son was eating enough to sleep threw the night. It becomes a routine for them to wake up and cry and mom to bring a bottle. The first night is the worst, I went to his room and caressed his head and sang to him, but I did not pick him up. It only took a few minutes for him to fall to sleep, although it seems like an eternity. Also, some kind of music helps, like a wind up teddy or mobile. It only took 3 nights for my son to learn that he was not getting a bottle and would sleep until 5:30 am. Be strong, and you will make it! You will definately remember your first night of sleep!